FuriLabs FLX1: actually usable Linux phone

I'm not new to Linux Phones. I was a backer of the original Librem 5 camping, own a Librem 5 devkit, later on a PinePhone. During FOSDEM I walked around and found the stand by FuriLabs where they demonstrated their FLX1 phone and chatted with all the participants. I knew about the phone because one of the people on a Discord server mentioned it (looking sus, btw) claiming great battery life and near perfect driver support. I chatted with FuriLab's CEO and engineers; they are smart and down to the ground. Better? The demo phones are awesome and actually works. And so I bought one of the phones at the stand and gave it a few test drives.

I am no tech reviewer so pardon the crude review. The phone is now my work phone. No unnecessary distractions.

The phone

I shall start by copying the specs from the FuriLab's website:

The spec it is much better then what the Librem5 and PinePhone (Pro) provided. More RAM, better display, more storage, better connectivity, everything. Even water proof. But that's just half of the story. The PinePhone though decent in it's hardware, has poor integration and driver support that makes it's power consumption unbearable. And it fully suspends when you press the power button - leading to music and phone calls both stopping to work - which is not what you want.

The FLX1 does very good in this regard. It will stop most front ground work when in sleep. But background processes are still allowed to run. YouTube in the background? Phone calls? They just work.

Battery life

The most important question of it all indeed. Can it wake you up in the morning... yes!

The PinePhone when I had it, uses 40% power even on idle over a working day. Very often if I forgot to charge the PinePhone - the battery it completely drained the next day. And the phone becomes hot to the touch, even overheating just browsing Phoronix.

The FLX1 uses 10% (in my experience) idling with WiFi and 4G on over the same period of time. Not even getting hot going through websites or video playback.

Camera quality

The best camera I have seen on any Linux running phone. And usable too! It is not Google Pixel or iPhone quality. But good enough for day to day photos. Vibrant, little post processing, no overly detailed metadata.

Both indoor and outdoor performance is great. Took photos of my Miku plush pile:

And an outdoor one:

Calls and text

I do not have a 5G SIM to test against, but it 4G works perfectly in Taiwan. SMS and calls alike.

Mobile network also works flawlessly. Took a photo of it working at a meetup in a restaurant.

Android App Compatibility

FuriOS (the custom distribution based on Debian) comes preinstalled with Waydroid and F-Droid. The apps I care about runs without problem. The biggest issue is NewPipe crashing when switched in landscape mode. But I just disable automatic rotation to work around that problem.

Audio is perfect too! Bluetooth and headphones alike. High quality analog too, no PinePhone jank and minimal volumes!